PAUL Trollope believes Bristol Rovers are poised to make a serious assault on the upper reaches of League One after their impressive 2-0 win over fancied Oldham Athletic.

A stunning goal from Rickie Lambert – his 11th of the season – and a Chris Lines strike earned the Pirates back-to-back home victories for the first time this campaign.

And with another fancied side in Southend United next on the agenda at the Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Trollope feels his side now have the confidence to push towards the play-off places.

"We started the season poorly but have turned a corner, and now we need a mentality to keep on winning games," said Trollope.

"With the way people are playing and others coming back from injury, we feel we can mount an assault on the top half of the table. We are starting to get our confidence back."

Lambert's 35-yard rocket set the tone for a pulsating night and Trollope said: "It was a great goal and Rickie's on fire at the moment. That's 11 goals now in 13 games and he's scored some great ones for us.

"This was another long-range effort that he'll be very pleased with it – he's a bit disappointed he's not scored more from distance so far.

"We were aware we hadn't started games well but when we get the first goal we fancy ourselves against any team. We knew Oldham would come at us in the second half, but we defended well and I was delighted with the win.

"We had a bit of luck at times, but we were a bit disappointed not to score more on the counter-attack.

"Although they had a lot of pressure, we played with composure when we needed to and saw the game out."